


Just Another Cliché

by interruptedbyfjreworks



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Actor Phil Lester, Angst, Chaptered, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Family, Fluff and Angst, Law School, Law Student Dan Howell, M/M, Pining, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-27
Updated: 2018-03-27
Packaged: 2019-04-13 16:40:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14116539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/interruptedbyfjreworks/pseuds/interruptedbyfjreworks
Summary: Dan Howell does not find desire in settling down. He had been single all of his life and was doing just fine. He had a job working at the cinema in town that paid him enough to get through until the next paycheck. He was too occupied with work, school, and binge-watching anime to have time to date.In comes Phil Lester, a struggling actor who Dan hires to fool his mother into thinking he has a boyfriend. The plan is to “date” for a couple of days while at Dan’s parents' house, then “break up” a few weeks later. Just enough to get Dan’s mother off his back for a while.And, no, Dan would definitely not catch feelings for the man meant to play his boyfriend. It was all just an act. Falling in love would just be a cliché, and Dan was not one for clichés.





	Just Another Cliché

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is the first chapter to a fic that i've been working on for a while! I will be posting it on ao3 and tumblr. I'm not sure if I will have a set day that I will post these chapters-I'll probably just play around with different days in the beginning to see what works. I'm not completely sure how long this will end up being, but I will tell you that it's already over 6.4k and I feel like i've hardly made a dent in the plot. Hope you enjoy!

Dan had always found the idea of “settling down” quite terrifying. The thought of having to commit to one person and say that “Yes, this is how I want to spend the rest of my life. With this person and nobody else. I will stay in love with this person and if I fall out of it I will not say anything,” was Dan’s worst fear. Okay, so maybe that’s not exactly what it’s like, but it may as well be. Dan could hardly commit to watching an entire movie in one sitting, so how was he supposed to commit to one person until he died?

This fear only got stronger as Dan got older and his mother was constantly nagging him about it. Every time they talked, the conversation somehow led to her asking if there was “a special someone” in his life, and his response was always, “No.”

Tonight, Dan was sitting in the lounge watching Netflix when his phone started ringing. He saw that it was his mother again and rolled his eyes.

He honestly didn’t know what he expected; who else would be calling him on a Thursday night? It’s not like he had many friends that call him just to talk-they mainly just call him when they need a designated driver for a party of some sort. All of his friends knew that Dan didn’t like to drink much, so they always took advantage of that.

“Hello, Mum,” Dan said when he picked up the phone.

“Hi, Daniel! What’re you up to?”

Dan looked around the lounge where he had been for the last two hours. “Working on a paper for school,” he lied. He had just begun his second year of law school and he hated every minute of it. But, from what his mother knew, he was studying hard.

“Oh! I’m sorry to bother you then. I’ll let you go.”

“No, no. It’s fine. I can talk.” No matter how annoying his mother could be, Dan wanted the distraction. Most of his thoughts lately had been consumed with essays he was procrastinating and approaching due dates.

“Okay, good. So I was wondering if you were aware of what next Saturday is?” Dan could picture his mother raising her eyebrows expectantly as she waited for an answer.

Next Saturday was November 10th. What was special about November 10th? “Oh, of course, I do! It’s your birthday!” He acted as if he could never forget, but he most definitely could.

“Indeed it is. I was wondering if you could come up on that Friday and stay the weekend? Your brother already said he could come.”

Dan sighed as he thought. He had a paper due that Monday and he hadn’t even begun to think about what he was going to do. But, he couldn’t skip out on his mother’s birthday, could he? What kind of son would do that? “Yeah, I could do that,” he eventually said. He figured he would just have to finish the paper before then.

“Great!”

Dan and his mother talked for a few more minutes before the inevitable topic finally came up.

“So, Dan,” his mother began, and Dan already knew what was coming. She had a certain tone of voice when she brought this up. “Before you snap at me, I know I ask this all the time. But, I’m going to ask it again. Is there anyone special yet we should know about?”

What if I said yes? No, that’s crazy. But, then again, what’s the worst that could happen? If he just told her yes, it would get her off his back for a while. Then, after a little bit of “dating”, he could just say they broke up. Sounds simple enough, right? “Um, yes, actually,” he said, holding his breath for her reaction.

She yelped. “Wait, really? What’s her name?”

“Uh, it’s a he, actually.” He had told his parents that he was bisexual when he was 18, but he had never actually had a boyfriend since then. He figured his parents might have just thought it was a phase because of that. He decided that telling them he had a boyfriend would kill that thought.

“Oh, I see. Well, you should bring him with you to my birthday! Your father and I would love to meet him!”

Oh, god. That’s not what I was expecting. “Uh, I...I don’t really think that’s a good idea.” He hoped that him saying that would make her decide against it, but it didn’t.

“Oh, please! It will be fine.”

“Mum, we’ve only been seeing each other for a little over a month. It’s not even that serious.” Dan knew there was no talking her out of it, but he could still try.

“Unless he gets hit by a train within the next week and a half, I will be expecting him at dinner for my birthday. Got it?” He had to give it to his mom, she was strong-willed.

“Okay, mum. I gotta go. I have to get back to writing my paper.”

“Oh, okay! I love you!”

“Love you,” Dan said quickly before hanging up.

Dan brought his hands up to his face and sighed. How was he supposed to get out of this one? He was going to have to come up with something, and fast.

Scrolling through his contact list, he looked for someone who might have some advice. The only person he could think of was PJ.

PJ was one of the first friends he made when he had moved out of his parent’s house. They had sat next to each other on the first day of classes at Uni, and they immediately hit it off. The boys spent more time texting during lectures than actually listening. PJ was the best friend Dan had never had during his childhood.

With no one else to turn to, he clicked on PJ’s name and waited for him to pick up.

“I’ve got a dilemma,” Dan said as soon as PJ answered.

PJ was completely silent while Dan explained what had happened. “So, what should I do?” Dan finally asked when he was done.

“Well, I mean, you could always just have me pretend to be your boyfriend for the weekend. It’s not like they have an idea of what he looks like.”

“That wouldn’t work. My parents already know you.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. Wait a minute! I just had an idea. Okay, so this might sound a little dangerous but-”

“Oh god, Peej, this can’t be good.”

PJ chuckled. “Just hear me out,” he said. “Okay, so, I saw this in a movie I think. What if we put out an ad for an actor on Craigslist or something. We can just give like a general description of what we need and then have them contact us for more details.” PJ paused so Dan could give his opinion.

Dan chewed on his lip while he thought. “I don’t know, Peej. That sounds pretty sketchy. We could end up with some creepy axe murderer or something.” Dan knew that this was unlikely, but his mind always wanted to go to the worst-case scenario.

“Well, we could have them skype, then meet them in a public place if we think they might be a good fit.”

“This still just sounds really risky. I feel like I should just tell my mom I lied…”

“No! This will work, Dan. Don’t you trust me?”

“Should I?” Dan let out a half-hearted laugh.

“It’s the right thing to do. We’ve been best friends for, what, eight years?”

“Yeah, something like that.”

“Okay, then I think you should trust me. Let me handle it. I’ll make a post and let you know how it does tomorrow morning. Sound good?”

“Whatever you say, Peej.” Dan couldn’t really think of any ideas, so he figured he might as well see how it played out.

“Alright,” PJ said, “I’m gonna let you go so I can get to work.”

“Okay,” Dan chuckled, “Good luck.”

As much as Dan appreciated PJ’s determination to make this work, he definitely had a lot of doubts. There was so much that could go wrong and his mind automatically focused on those things.

After contemplating every worst-case scenario, Dan decided to focus on the T.V. He hadn’t even realized how late it was until he saw the digital clock switching to 1:00 A.M. It felt like just minutes ago he had hung up with PJ, when it had actually been nearly two hours.

Dan shuffled to his room and fell into a restless sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> follow me on tumblr @interruptedbyfjreworks


End file.
